Downtown Chicago businesses boarding up ahead of anti-Israel protests at DNC: ‘We want to have maximum protection’

Businesses in downtown Chicago have started boarding up their doors and windows ahead of next week’s Democratic National Convention, when thousands of anti-Israeli protesters are expected to descend on the Windy City.

The century-old Garland Building on Wabash and Washington Streets was covered in sheets of plywood and 2-by-4s on Friday, along with numerous other businesses along the Loop, the city’s main business district, NBC Chicago reported.

Scott Schapiro, who owns the Syd Jerome menswear shop on Clark Street, said he wasn’t taking any chances during this convention — where thousands of protesters are expected — since his store has been looted by vandals four separate times in the past.

“You get that phone call in the middle of the night and your heart jumps out of your chest,” he told the outlet.

“We want to sleep a little more soundly at night, and this gives us a little security, and we hope that there isn’t any incident obviously, but in the event there is, we want to have maximum protection,” Schapiro explained.

Schapiro said the store will remain open but the boards will stay up for the duration of the DNC, which runs from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22. He said he won’t hesitate to temporarily close his shop at the first sign of trouble.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” he said. “Most retailers are eternal optimists. They always think tomorrow is going to be better than today, and you always hope for the best, but it doesn’t always work out that way.”

Chicago officials earlier this month approved a “March on the DNC” for anti-Israel groups near Chicago’s United Center after the groups filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the city for attempting to restrict the demonstration.

Protest organizers told NBC News tens of thousands of people from several states will take over the streets in Chicago when Democratic delegates nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential nominee.

“We’re not going to do anything different. We’re going to mobilize,” said chief organizer Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of the US Palestinian Community Network advocacy group.

“Harris represents the administration; she represents Biden. There is nothing that she has expressed,” he added

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has assured business owners and residents that the city is prepared for unrest.

“There’s a reason why Time Out magazine rated the city of Chicago the best for conventions, because we’re good at it,” he told reporters Friday morning.

“Are there individuals out there that want to disrupt the beauty of Chicago? Of course there are.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker dismissed concerns that this year’s DNC could spiral into the violent riots Chicago saw at the 1968 convention, when the country was similarly dealing with widespread anti-war protests.

“I feel pretty good about the situation, and obviously the only apprehension is have we allocated enough space, is there enough protection in certain parts of the city,” he told NBC Chicago. 

Those are all things [Chicago Police] superintendent [Larry] Snelling and the people who’ve been organizing around this convention for the last year and a quarter have been thinking about and planning for,” he added.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told NBC News the DNC is designated as a “national security event” which is “the highest security designation that the United States can give to anything.”

The FBI said in a statement the agency “is not aware of any specific and articulable threats related to the DNC.”